Ashraf Asla jailed for rape, sexual assaults at Wangaratta business

County Court Judge Daniel Holding applauded both the courage and intelligence of the victim as Ashraf Asla, 48, appeared for sentence on one charge of rape, and two charges of sexual assault on other women.

Judge Holding said despite her trauma after the rape on March 19, 2020, the victim "bravely and intelligently" attempted to assist police in getting Asla to admit what he had done.

She was pregnant when she went to Chen's Chinese Massage in Murphy Street, Wangaratta - a business owned by Asla's wife - seeking relief from lower back pain.

Asla told her "it would be easier" if she removed her underwear. She kept her bra and dress on but Asla then told her to remove those. As he massaged her, he brushed her private parts and she began to feel increasingly uncomfortable, asking if she could put her underwear back on. He told the victim it was "easier if she didn't".

As he continued, he moved a towel covering the woman to her upper body, completely exposing her lower body. He then moved her right leg, massaging her buttocks. He raped her with his fingers and thumb in "multiple acts of penetration", Judge Holding said, causing her pain.

Judge Holding said the victim had described how she "felt frozen and couldn't breathe" as the assault took place. When she returned home, she broke down and sobbed in front of her husband and infant son. She made a detailed complaint to police that evening.

Her communication via text messages with Asla, to assist police, took place just days after the rape, on March 24 and 26. When arrested on March 30, Asla denied the allegation. He admitted to some of the text message exchanges but suggested he was only responding to the woman's advances.

He defended himself to police by claiming that during the massage, the victim had "masturbated herself", he had not touched her sexually, and it had been her idea to get completely undressed.

On August 24, 2020, Asla was questioned about two more assaults on other clients, involving sexual touching. One of the assaults took place between June 1 and August 31 in 2018, and the other on March 4, 2019. Asla again denied the allegations.

"There is no doubt your offending has had a traumatic effect on the psychological wellbeing of the complainants," Judge Holding told Asla on Tuesday.

He said one of the sexual assault victims had initially avoided reporting Asla out of fear she would not be believed. She found the idea of disclosing Asla's offending confronting, and described finding it difficult to trust others. Her victim impact statement detailed how she felt that "every part of herself had changed" since the assault.

The second victim of sexual assault described her feelings of confusion, and thinking initially that she must have "misread the situation". When she saw a Facebook post referencing Asla's arrest over the rape, she described feeling an enormous sense of guilt for not reporting what had happened to her.

She said she experiences panic attacks, and is hyper-vigilant about her safety.

The woman raped by Asla described how his offending left her "a wreck".

She, along with her husband, tendered victim impact statements detailing how the rape had forever changed their lives.

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The woman described how, in an attempt to return to normal family life, she had tried to go for a walk with her husband and son. But it had resulted in a severe panic attack, after she felt a sense of terror that she might inadvertently run into Asla.

She feels she is now short-tempered, emotional and sad, and that she has a "life sentence" with a poor mindset and is constantly subject to a rollercoaster of emotions. She is on medication, "just to sleep and function", and her inability to return to work has resulted in an extra financial burden for her family

"She graphically described in her victim impact statement how your offending severely compromised the enjoyment in giving birth to her baby daughter," the judge told Asla. "Instead of the joy she anticipated, she describes being in a dark place mentally, and that she couldn't cope with the constant state of depression."

Her husband described his feelings of helplessness at not "being there to protect his wife", along with shock that lingers three years on.

"I am still in complete disbelief that in 2020 in Australia, that a young pregnant woman can be raped by a stranger mid-afternoon in a private business on one of the busiest streets in Wangaratta CBD," he said.

He said he had been part of a young family in circumstances where life "seemed joyful and bright with excitement at the prospect of another child coming into the family".

"He has difficulty putting into words how stressed and strained their family life has become as a result of the rape," Judge Holding said.

In sentencing Asla, Judge Holding noted that his guilty pleas came only on the eve of his trial, after the strength of the prosecution case had become clear.

"I accept that your plea of guilty represents some evidence of remorse however I regard your remorse as limited," he told Asla. "Your conduct was a gross breach of trust. These complainants all understandably placed themselves in a vulnerable position on the understanding that you would provide a service that might alleviate their physical ailments.

"You used the guise of providing the service to molest two of them sexually, and rape one of them ... you used the guise of performing a massage to get physically closer and closer to the genital area of each complainant as the massage progressed.

"Once you formed the view that each complainant was not likely to actively resist your conduct you took advantage of their vulnerability ... in order to gratify your own desires."

Asla was sentenced to a minimum term of four years, with a total maximum term of five years and 11 months on all charges.

He has already served a total of 428 days, and appeared via videolink on Tuesday from Hopkins Correctional Centre at Ararat.

Judge Holding addressed Asla after handing down his sentence, telling him: "You must appreciate that when you get released, if you do get granted parole, you should follow all conditions very strictly and you now have a very serious criminal history."

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